The First Time Intelligence Has Gotten Me So Far
by XeverchanginggirlX
Summary: A simple romance, narrated by the apex of puberty ridden teens, Seerah Noru. Perhaps tears will ensue, perhaps laughter, or simplistic intrest. It is all up to whether or not YOU choose to read it. Adventure awaits, just out of the frying pan.
1. Chapter 1

I panted hard, my legs aching. I shot a quick glance to the rear. _They're closing in. _I unclasped my arms from my sides and thrust them out behind me. I leaned down to nearly a ninety degree angle and pushed myself to go faster. I hopped onto the dead tree trunk in front of me and was preparing to jump when a thousand tiny pains pierced my back. _Poison needles. _My vision began to cloud and everything around me suddenly seemed abstract, like nothing was ever really there. I attempted to scream, but it felt as if the air was being sucked from my lungs and all I managed was a squeak. I fell to the forest floor and vaguely felt a shoe dig into my side. I rolled over and tried to look up. _Great. _The last thing I saw was the face of the enemy.

I woke in a sweat with a sock jammed in my mouth. I spit out the sock and gloomily recognized it as my older brother's. _Gross. _I sat up slowly, my sheets sticking to my sweaty legs. I looked over at my clock. _8:15, school begins at 8:30. …Oh, snap! I'm going to be late! I raced to the closet, changed clothes, and was almost instantly downstairs. I grabbed a donut off the counter and flew out the door._

Racing through the streets, I narrowly avoided running into every passing pedestrian, then veered off into an alley and hopped over some fences. I darted into the school building and slid into my seat just before the teacher announced the beginning of class. _They should give an accolade for fastest commute to school; I would so win._

"Hello students, welcome to class. Aren't we all so excited it's the first day of school?" Our teacher had a strained grin on his face. A sea of moans and groans and some nerdy "Oh, yeahs!" ensued. "Well I'm sorry to announce that some of you may not be attending this school anymore depending on your scores on this quiz I'm about to hand out." I could see the sweat on my fellow students' faces.

I raised my hand. "Um, I think I misunderstood. Did you just say that some of us will not be attending this school depending on our results on this quiz?"

The teacher tried to grin again. "Actually, you understood almost completely. You see, all of you will be sent to classes depending on how you answer the questions on this quiz. It just happens that some of those classes aren't offered at this school. One lucky student in your grade will be selected to take a class in another country, but don't go telling the younger students about that, because that opportunity will not ever be offered again. You will attend your new classes tomorrow; your results will be emailed to you tonight. Does that answer your question?"

"Well, yes… but, where is this alternate country class, and what is it?" My interests were peaked; I had my curious face on. Keri, my best friend, giggled at my intense look of interest. Well, I couldn't help it if the information about these classes was abstruse.

"I'm afraid I can't tell you that, young lady, because then you'd go and put every answer choice that has to do with the class, and you might end up getting to go instead of the person who really deserved to go. Is that okay?" He had an 'I-really-don't-care-what-you-think-just-let-me-get-this-over-with-and-go-home' look on his face, so I just nodded and sat quietly back in my chair.

"Okay, while I'm handing out this quiz, please sit quietly in your seat. I'll be passing out number two pencils along with your quiz, so please don't go digging through your backpacks and whatnot looking for a pencil. If you already have one out, that's fine." The teacher walked briskly up and down the isles, somehow never having to pause.

At the end of his rounds, the teacher set the remaining quizzes and pencils down on his desk and turned to face the class. "You may begin. Please don't cheat, because cheating will simply place you in the improper class for you and you will be VERY unhappy." _I'll bet that's what happened to him. _The teacher looked in my direction, his eyes cold. _What is wrong with this guy? _

I picked up my pencil and write my name and the date. I looked down at the first question. _I guess these are all personal opinion questions. They're trying to put you in the class that you would enjoy most._

Seerah Noru 8-25-08

1. What is your favorite elective class?

a) Art

b) Physical Education

c) Music

d) Foreign Language

_I suppose that the Foreign Language option is the one that you should pick if you want to go to the other country class, but I'm not going to lie on this quiz, it's important to my happiness that I put the truth. I guess that means I should pick b._

2. What is your favorite part about going to school?

a) Learning

b) Hanging out with my friends

c) Going to and leaving school (I walk to school)

d) I hate school

_Well, I really like to run to and from school. I don't like the learning part as much, (although that is probably the answer to get to the other country class) I don't get to hang out with my friends during school, and although I don't necessarily enjoy school, that answer would probably get me put in a class for juvenile delinquents. So, I'm going to go with c.__  
_The rest of the test was much the same. Some of the questions had to do with personal experiences, what kind of extra curricular classes you had taken, things like that.  
I completed the final question just before it was time to depart for lunch. I handed in my test and the teacher immediately whipped out his answer key and began to start checking my answers.  
During lunch I was nearly abstemious with anxiousness. Keri nearly had to force feed me my lunch because I was so anxious I wouldn't even touch my food.  
We got back to class and within five minutes the rest of the class had turned their quizzes in. The teacher left the room to finish grading the quizzes.  
The moment the door closed the class was abuzz with excitement over what class they had received. I sat quietly listening to Keri tell me all about what classes she thought there would be and what classes she thought we would be in.  
The teacher came back after an hour and laid the quizzes on his desk. He turned around and held his hand up, waiting for the class to become silent. "I've been told that the entire grade has finished their quizzes. The other teachers and I have gone over all the quizzes and emailed the director of the alternate country school. We have decided who the lucky student is who will get to take this out of country class. Before I announce who it is, I'm going to pass back your quizzes. Your results, again, will be emailed to you tonight." The teacher quickly walked about the rows, passing out the quizzes, again, with no hesitation. When he came to my row, the last one, he skipped my desk and went straight back to his desk. I looked back at Keri, who had a worried expression on her face which turned worse when I looked over. _I must have that horrible disappointed grimace on my face.__  
_"Okay, students, I am now going to announce the lucky student who will be taking the alternate country class. Drum roll, please!" A weak chorus of differently timed "drum rolls" followed. "I am proud to acclaim that the lucky student who gets to go Japan is… Seerah Noru! Come on down and claim your prize on the quiz of fortune!" That pained grin stretched across his face as the teacher picked up a very large manila folder and awaited my approach. But that couldn't bother me now. I was so excited I was about to scream. I raced down the isle and snatched the folder out of the teacher's hands and spun around in joy. _I can't believe I won!_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the properties of Naruto or the characters. All of the material reguarding the country and characters of Naruto is only owned by Masashi Kishimoto and Shonen Jump.**_


	2. Chapter 2

_He's staring at me. _A strange boy I had never seen was just staring at me. Not directly, out of the corner of his eye, like he expected me just to think he was sleeping, but he was definitely staring at me. Suddenly, the landscape behind him disappeared, and he rose to a stand, slowly walking towards me. I slowly backed away, and he kept coming. I turned to run, and hit an invisible wall. The boy raced up to catch me as my view faded to haze…

_Ugh. _I pushed myself off the floor and rolled back onto my butt. _These dreams, I've been having so many of them lately. What could they mean? _I braced myself against my bed and slowly rose to my feet.

"Seerah!" my mother screamed from the bottom of the stairs. _What? She shouldn't even be awake right now. _I looked at the clock on my nightstand behind me. _8:00?! Crap! I was supposed to wake up at 5:00!!!! _I jumped up and ran out the door, tromping down the stairs, nearly trampling my mother in the process. I ripped a bagel off the counter and shoved it in my mouth, then whipped open the door and pulled as many suitcases out as I could possibly carry. I dropped them all on the floor of my room and began throwing all my clothes into them.

At 9:00 I was packing every other thing that could possibly fit in a suitcase. _Ah! I'm not going to have enough time! There's only an hour left until I have to go! _I hurried to pack a carry on bag of stuff I needed to get ready while on the plane.

"Seerah! Time to go!" my mother screamed at 9:30. I slid some suitcases down the stairs. "Come on, Seerah! If you want to go ANYWHERE you have to get down these stairs right NOW!" _How is anybody supposed to get anything done around here with her yelling at them all the time? Gah!_ I slid the rest of my suitcases down the stairs and slung my carry on bag over my shoulder, then pounded down the stairs and out into the car. I slid into the passenger seat and looked expectantly out the driver side window.

My mother sighed and picked up half of my suitcases, and then my father came out and picked up the rest. I pressed the button for the trunk to open and they tossed my bags in. My dad kissed my forehead just before my mom pulled the car out of the driveway and I waved goodbye long past the time that he could still see me.

Then I lay back in my seat and went to sleep until we reached the airport…

_He's staring at me again. _That boy, the same boy who was staring at me before, was there again. I realized now that he was about my age, and now he was staring at me straight on. He was sitting on a tree stump, slouching forward now, with his arms folded across his lap. I tried to turn around, but I couldn't, it felt like… like I was being pulled toward him. I looked at my arms, and saw some strings that appeared to threading out from the boy's fingers. He smirked at my horror as he stood to meet my petrified figure. I struggled to pull away from him, but I couldn't break free. Suddenly, I stopped. The strings dropped from my arms and fell to the ground and the boy walked towards me. I could walk now, I could get away, but strangely, I no longer wanted to…

"Wake up Hun; you're going to miss your plane!" My mother shook me awake, about to break out the whistle.

"No, mum! No whistle! I'm awake!" I yelped, jumping up in my seat. I pulled my carry on back over my shoulder and hopped out of the car, racing for a cart to put my suit cases on. I wheeled it back and threw open the trunk, then started piling suitcases onto the cart before my mother was even all the way out of the car. I strapped my luggage tight to the cart and started towards the door. My mom started jogging after me and twisted around to lock the car. I threw open the door and charged into the elevator, almost leaving my mother behind. I waited with my hand against the door to keep it from closing. My mother fished my airplane ticket out of her pocket, and I pulled it out of her hands, studying the numbers. I punched the 5 on the elevator and waited for it to rise, holding down the door close button.

We reached the 5th floor and once the door opened, I heard from the loudspeaker, "Flight 793 departing to Japan, last call for flight 793, departing to Japan in 5 minutes." _What?! That can't be right! My flight isn't supposed to leave until 10:15! _I looked up at the clock on the wall, it read 10:10. _Ah!!_ "Bye mom!"

I dashed across the main floor area and to the flight 793 gate. I pushed all my luggage onto the baggage check and walked through the scanner and waited impatiently as the men loaded my things back onto the cart and handed it off to the baggage loaders. I retrieved my carry on bag and raced to the main gate, handed my ticket to the flight attendant, then raced into the plane, searching for my seat.

I looked around and searched for the first class flight section. There was a curtain separating the plane in half, so I guessed that I was supposed to go through there. _Whoa. _The seats were leather, and they had reclining backs and foot rests. _I guess they really want their guests to be welcomed in Japan. _I sunk into a seat by the window and a flight attendant came to my seat and moved my bag into the carry on compartment above me.

"Would you like a drink, Miss Noru?" _She knows my name? Weird… _

"Um… a cherry coke would be nice, I suppose…" _That's an odd smile she has… like she's trying too hard to be polite, like her life depends on it._ _What am I thinking? I'm probably over tired after all those strange dreams. _I pulled the handle on my chair so it reclined back and put out the foot rest. I just lay there for a while, until the flight attendant retuned with my drink. I took a few sips and then fell asleep.

_That guy… what is up with him? Why is he still staring at me? _It appeared to be in a classroom setting. I was standing at the front, with two other students standing next to me. He was leaning back in his chair with his arms folded behind his head, still watching me with one eye open. The teacher behind me had a scar across his face, over the bridge of his nose. He shouted at the boy, thinking he was asleep. The boy sat up and slouched over with his arms folded across the desk. Both of his eyes were open now. He studied the other students by me for a moment then his gaze landed back on me. _Why can't he stop staring at me? _That was the last thought I had before everything dissolved around me.

"Miss Noru, your flight is to land in one hour. The in flight movie began a little while ago if you are interested. Is there anything that I can get you to make your flight more comfortable?" She had that overenthusiastic grin on her face.

"Um, could you tell me where I can go to do my make-up?" I smiled back at her.

"Of course! Are your cosmetics in your carry on bag? I can get it for you." She reached up and unlatched the compartment above my head and pulled out my bag. "There you are, Miss Noru. Restrooms are just behind that curtain in the back, on the left. Do you need anything else?"

"Um, no thank you. I won't be back for a little while; you know how it is trying to put your make-up on when you're trying to make a good first impression?" _It doesn't look like she does; she looks like the only Barnum and Bailey clown who doesn't paint a smile on her face, because hers is already overcompensating._

"Oh, of course, how silly of me! Well you go ahead and take your time; I know that you really want to make an entrance in Japan!"

I tried to smile back at her as I shuffled off to the bathroom. Once I was in there I flicked on the light and dug out my make-up bag. _I never realized that this thing is as big as a football until now. This bathroom may be bigger than others, but it's still pretty small. _

I pulled out my basic products and got down to work. _This has to work perfectly, or I'll look like an idiot in Japan._

30 minutes later, I emerged from the bathroom. I walked back to my seat and pulled out a book. I_ probably look worse than before. I can't believe I tried to put make-up on. That was so stupid of me. I probably look as bad as that flight attendant. _I focused on my book for the remainder of the time on the plane.

The flight attendant walked down the aisle and stopped at my seat. "Miss Noru, the flight will be landing in a few minutes. Is there anything else you need?" _Ugh, she's just trying so hard that it's sickening. I really wish that I had a flight attendant who was the exact polar opposite of her. That would be nice. _

"No, I think I'll be okay, I have a bit of money to grab some food when we—" At the mention of food, the flight attendant immediately wheeled out a cart covered in snacks and meals.

"Anything here that you would like? I can get something else if you need it." She said, inching towards the curtain she had pulled the cart from.

"Oh, no, that's okay! Um, the ramen there would be nice." I said, eyeing a bowl of shrimp ramen. _I haven't any real ramen in forever; it would be nice to have some now, on my way to what is practically the ramen capitol of the world. _

"Oh, of course!" She reached for the bowl and folded down the tray in front of me. "There you go! Ten minutes until the flight lands." She smiled again and shuffled off with the cart of food._ If she was any creepier, people would be going out of their way to get away from her. _

I shoveled down my ramen, nearly burning my mouth, and sat back. The flight attendant came down to retrieve by bowl and disappeared.

"Attention passengers, the plane is about to land. Please make sure that your seat belts are buckled." I pulled the seat belt around myself and held my carry on bag in my lap.

The landing went smoothly, and a last announcement was made about how the plane was landed, have a nice day, blah, blah, blah…

I jumped out of my seat and walked down the aisle behind a sea of people. I got down the passageway to the main area at the Tokyo airport. _Finally! _I rushed over to the baggage claim and waited for my bags to come down the chute. Somebody came up behind me and tapped me on the shoulder and I whirled around. It was a tall man, I couldn't guess his age. He had a scar across the bridge of his nose, but he seemed nice nonetheless.

He smiled, "Konichiwa! You must be Seerah, from America." _He seems pretty nice, much better choice than that flight attendant._

"Yes, that would be me. Um, if you don't mind, who are you?"

He chuckled, "Don't worry about it! I'm Umino Iruka, call me Iruka sensei." He smiled again. "I suppose that you're going to need a cart to hold your bags?" I nodded. "I'll go get one for you, just try to put your bags in a pile until I get back, I won't belong though." He disappeared suddenly, so I turned back to the chute.

"Hope I didn't take too long, I had to go the other side of the building to find one." I spun around and Iruka was standing behind me with a cart. _Where did he come from? The other side of the building? How can anybody get there and back so fast?_

"Not at all, my bags don't appear to have even come out of the chute yet." I turned back to the chute to wait for my bags, so I could snatch them off the conveyor belt as fast as I could.

"They'll be here in a moment." Iruka said, focusing on the tunnel part of the chute. _How can he tell? _Suddenly, all my bags came down the chute at once, and Iruka had them on the cart before I could stretch out an arm.

"Thank you." I said, a bit questioningly. I bowed a bit and Iruka took off at a fast pace towards the elevator.

"We'll be taking a train part way out, and then we'll ride on horse-back for a few miles until we reach Konoha. It should take a few hours. Are you okay with that?" Iruka stepped out of the elevator and paused for a moment, waiting for me to catch up.

"Of course, but, um, how long will we be on horses? I've never rode a horse before, and I don't know how long I can go on a horse with no guidance for the first time." I kind of winced, expecting for him to be angry at me, or something, for not knowing how to ride a horse prior to coming to Japan. _I expected Japan to be all high tech and stuff, that's really the only thing you ever hear about it. I know that there are rice paddies and stuff, but I didn't expect to have to ride a horse in order to get to my new school._

"Ha ha, don't worry. It'll only be about a half an hour to an hour on horseback, the train ride should take about an hour also. If you want I can prep you on what will be going on when we arrive in Konoha during our trip."

We got out of the airport and Iruka hailed a taxi. He dropped my bags into the trunk and then sped back to the airport to return the cart. I climbed into the taxi just as Iruka returned. He slid in next to me and closed the door. "We'll be taking this taxi to the train station, where I can get another cart for your things. So let's see… When we get to Konohagakure, you will be introduced to the Hokage, for he must meet all new potential residents before granting them a place to stay. We will leave your things there until we bring you to get settled at your new home. We will then leave to go to the academy, where you will be introduced to the other students of your age group and meet whomever you are designated to move in with."

"You mean that you don't know who I'm going to live with, and worse, I have to live with another student?" _That is not going to work! What if I get stuck with some freak that does their homework all the time and wont even let me go inside the house without signing a pact that I will always do my homework once I get home? I cannot stand people with personalities that are the exact polar opposite from mine!_

"Of course I know who you are going to be staying with; it's just that I am supposed to keep it a secret, in case his or her reputation exceeds them." He chuckled to himself, as if that it had been quite the joke he made. _So the person is probably going to be on the boring side, no reason for anybody to know their name more than anybody else's. At least it's not a pompous idiot who cares too much about their bloated ego._

"There are also two other transfer students from the United States who you will be teamed up with. We also received a new sensei a couple of months ago who is more than ready to take on a few students who have never been trained in this before. He'll be very tough at first, but once you start getting into it, all the different techniques will be very simple. You'll be started out at a beginner level, but your studies will be rushed as to get you quickly caught up with the other students. I'll try to make it as simple as possible for you so that you can catch up quickly, I could tell when the Hokage allowed me to see your results on the test that you would be a very valuable asset to our group of students." He smiled at me yet again, casually scratching his nose, right next to his scar.

"How can you tell, just from the answers that I put on the test? They had nothing to with anything that could monitor my ability in this new country, and the answers that I put for nay questions about school work could have been lies. They aren't though! How would you know if what I put down was true or not?"

Iruka laughed and looked at me like I was crazy. "They didn't tell you anything about us, did they? Well, I'll leave the surprise to when we arrive. It'll be so much more fun that way!" He smiled and looked out the window. "Oh, look the train station is just up there! He points out the window to the crowd of people milling around.

The taxi came to a stop and Iruka hopped out in a second, and then piled my bags neatly onto a cart that seemed to have come out of nowhere. I climbed out of the car just after he closed the trunk and the taxi drove off. Iruka smiles and takes off at a much slower pace through crowds, as not to lose me.

"The train ride really won't seem very long. The train moves very comfortably, we could play a game of Go, if you like?" He pulled a box out of a pouch that I hadn't even noticed and held it out to me. "Might be helpful to learn, the person you're staying with loves this game." He chuckled as I reached out to take the box and study the images on it.

"It's like American chess?" I looked at the box, puzzled slightly. I was never any good at chess to begin with. I couldn't remember what all the pieces were allowed to do, only the pawns. I could already tell that I was going to have a very hard time with this person.

Iruka chuckles and looks down at me. "I suppose you could say that, it has the same goals and such. The pieces move similarly, also. I personally find it easier to learn and understand. Oh, dear, it is getting hard to constantly address this person without using their name. Please bear with me, I am simply dying to tell you who they are, and I just know that they will enjoy your company." His eyes drifted off, then, and he smiled to himself. "How cute," he mumbled.

I looked up at him in surprise. "Cute…? Are you people just trying to set me up or something??" I stared at him coldly. I was NOT about to be traveling to Japan just to be set up.

Iruka smiled down at me. "No, it's simply that the two of you would be so cute together." Iruka stopped for a moment. "Oh, darn. I wasn't supposed to say that out loud. So, yes, you are going to be staying with a male student. Oh, dear, I was really hoping to keep that a secret. I hope he won't be angry at me, but I promise that I will not tell you his name." Iruka smiled to himself and continued walking. "It was his choice, after all, to stay with you…" His smile twisted into a frown. "How about you just forget everything I have told you about him? I seem to slipping quite a bit on all this secret information. It's awfully exciting, poor kid never could get a girl anywhere near him." Iruka looked down as my eyes grew wide. Is this kid horribly disfigured, or something?? "It's just that all the girls think that he's stupid. His IQ far surpasses that of any student I've ever even heard of, but he's incredibly lazy. He'd prefer to sleep rather than anything else, but he will play Go on occasion. He's unbeatable at that."

Iruka hopped onto the train and pulled me up by my hand. "So… I'll be staying with the laziest but most intelligent person ever to be spoken of?" That should turn out interestingly. Iruka took a seat in a booth near the back and pushed my bags onto the shelf above us. I put the box on the table and Iruka dumped the contents out, quickly arranging them into the starting position for the game.

"I suppose that is the best description of him. If he was a little more active, he could be more popular than Sasuke. He could have his own fan club really; it's just that most people don't take much interest in him because he's too lazy to do anything." He smiled and flipped the lid of the box over, then pulled out a pen. "Promise to forget everything I've told you about him, and I can teach you how to play this." I nodded my head and looked straight at him. It's not like I'll really need to now how to play this, considering that this guy is supposed to be as boring as dirt. I'll pay attention though, just to be respectful.

Iruka smiled again and started scribbling across the inside of the box. "Now, these pieces here can move there, there, and there…" Iruka pointed as he spoke, also writing everything he said on the inside of the box. I watched as best I could, trying to understand. Who knows, maybe I really might need to know this.

_**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the properties of Naruto or the characters. All of the material reguarding the country and characters of Naruto is only owned by Masashi Kishimoto and Shonen Jump.**_


End file.
